Posted on 11/19/2004 1:50:49 PM PST by Ed Current
It’s predictable that after a major election, one political party begins a round of bitter infighting and finger pointing. What’s surprising is when it’s the winning party. But ever since Arlen Specter, a day after winning a fifth term, said it was unlikely that the senate would confirm judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade, the Republicans have been fighting a nasty battle. Social conservatives have been flooding the offices of Republican Senators with demands that Specter not become the new chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Current chairman Orrin Hatch is supposed to turn the gavel over to Specter under G.O.P. caucus rules.
Specter has been lobbying his colleagues and defending his record. On the other side, the Christian Defense Coalition held a pray-in on the Capitol steps. The judiciary committee and the G.O.P. caucus won’t vote on Specter’s fate until January, but Hatch and other members came out in support of Specter Thursday and it seems unlikely he’ll be voted down. No senator has come out against him, probably because no senator wants to mess with the seniority system that determines chairmanships.
Still, it’s amazing how quickly the religious right has redirected all the energy they used to help re-elect President Bush toward scuttling Specter’s chairmanship. They seem to be the only people in politics who didn’t need a post-election vacation. It shows they believe Bush’s victory has given them a mandate to control the Republican party. But it also shows that they are insecure about the party’s loyalty to them, and that the Republicans could be facing four years of growing tension and squabbling.
Specter is well-known in Washington for being abrasive, hard-driving and not a team player. But it’s amazing he didn’t see this coming. He was one of just two incumbent GOP senators who faced a serious primary challenge this year. Congressman Pat Toomey took on Specter in the spring with a lot of help (and funds) from far-right allies. Conservatives have hated Specter for years; the National Review called him "the worst Republican senator" last year. But Bush and Pennsylvania’s other senator, Rick Santorum — both of whom have a lot more in common with Toomey — came to the moderate’s rescue, campaigning for him and calling his renomination crucial for Bush’s chances to win the state in November. Bush lost the Keystone state, Specter won and immediately made his Roe comments, leading conservatives feeling that, as they suspected, Specter can’t be trusted with their agenda.
Conservatives point to exit polls to argue that evangelical Christians are responsible for Bush’s victory. (There’s some evidence to support that, but a lot more suggests they were just one of several key factors.) Many conservatives feel that now is the best time to take their mandate for a test drive. Even if they don’t scuttle Specter’s ascension, they will have fired a warning shot toward any Republicans taking their support for granted. Bob Jones III, president of the conservative Christian university wrote a congratulatory letter to Bush the day after the election and told the president, "In your re-election, God has graciously granted America — though she doesn’t deserve it — a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate ... Don’t equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ."
But the social conservatives are also attacking because they’re afraid. They have been here before. In late 1980 they were thrilled after they helped elect Ronald Reagan but that excitement evaporated when the Administration told them the social agenda would have to wait until Reagan’s economic plans passed. Many members of the far right still believe that while Reagan put their issues on the table, he never seriously fought for any of them. After four decades in politics the religious right has few tangible victories to point to. Abortion is legal, prayer is not back in schools and now they are fighting same-sex marriage. George W. Bush may be a born-again Christian who speaks their language, but he has spent the past week talking about Social Security, tax reform and world affairs. During the campaign, he signalled he might support civil unions, which social conservatives believe is an endorsement of homosexuality.
And the Christian right isn’t the only uneasy constituency in the Republican party. Fiscal conservatives unhappy about the deficit, isolationists and foreign policy realists unhappy about the war and libertarians hostile to the Patriot Act all held their tongues during the fight against John Kerry, but may be ready to start talking. Still, Republicans can take comfort in one thing: It’s better to be the divided party in power than a unified party on the outside.
Sorry, but Rove and Bush did campaign in behalf of Specter and back him in the primary. The facts were publicized at the time. And Rove has repeatedly backed RINOs in various state campaigns.
Try winning a nat'l election w/o them. (HINT: Ask Geo HW Bush & Bob Dole)
This election was not about abortion.
I reckon that's why the Bush Campaign was courting the Amish. The Amish are renowned for being pro-infanticide, heck many of them have their own clinics right next to the blacksmith's barn.
Now of course this past election was not exclusively all about abortion, but to suggest that the Bush Campaign did not actively seek out the pro-life, Christian vote is disingenuous and outright false.
No, Rove isn't intervening now, I don't think. But if he and Bush hadn't strongly supported Specter in the primary, we wouldn't be having these problems now. We might have had a real Republican senator from Pennsylvania, and Bush might have won the state's electoral votes.
That was when the first and biggest mistake was made.
It was a mistake, but I'm sure Specter was promising Penn. for Bush if he helped him. A lot of good it did!!!!
Never trust a RINO--they love to play both sides and stab Bush in the back!!!!
Toomey lost because in a state that tallied over 5 million general election votes, he couldn't hit the 500,000 mark in the primary. He didn't raise enough money, and didn't compel enough anti-Arlen Republicans to hall their fat arses out to the polling booths to cast a primary vote.
You didn't get the job done folks. Period. You can either learn from your failure, or blame others. I see many Freepers are choosing the latter. How convenient. What a bunch of crybabies.
The fact that Specter's eventual margin of victory was so razor-thin made one thing absolutely undeniable. Without the influence and treachery of Bush and Santorum, we would have seen a raging pro-abort who has always been viciously hostile toward anything that the pro-life movement does replaced with a pro-lifer. It is laughable to suggest that the combined efforts of a Republican president and a Republican senator can't influence even 2 percent of the votes in a Republican primary. Given that, it is simply a fact that Bush and Santorum cost the pro-life movement this election.
Bush and Santorum defenders will claim that if Toomey had won he might turn around and lose in the general election and, thereby, turn control of the Senate over to the Democrats.
That's garbage. First, upon what do these people base the assumption that Toomey could somehow beat the senior incumbent United States senator in his state, but then not be able to beat a non-incumbent Democrat? If their claim is that Toomey's advocacy for the right-to-life makes him unelectable in a Pennsylvania general election, how do they explain Santorum's election?
AND READ POST #5!
What does this mean?
If you want to start slapping labels on Christians like the opposition does,
the coalition that got Bush elected will be at each others throats before the year's out.
From the looks of their faces when they faced the press on Fox News, Arlen got a REAL Bitch Slapping! The other Senators on the Judiciary seemed Pi$$ed.
I think Arlen has made them realize that they will under a micrscope from of the voters as well they should be!! They are just very uneasy at all of the eyeballs!! Keep the pressure up, up and on.
These people will not perform unless we BITCH SLAP them with E-mails, Phone calls, Faxes and Letters. If these don't work, then we will Bitch Slap them at the POLLS!!
I could care less about any WND analysis. They feature 16 year old columnists. The fact is, Toomey would NOT have won the general election. Hoeffel would have killed him in the Philly area. Specter received more votes than Bush or Kerry November 2.
You lost. Get over it. The "Sore Loserman" crowd had nothing on you folks.
URGENT ALERT Stop Specter! (Condensed 1-page flyer for distribution)
Homosexuals Defend Specter, NRLC decries "disaster"
Priority 1: Remove Specter from the Judiciary (Days 10-12)
Senator’s Response [Specter writes in National Review online]
Transcript of Inquirer interview with Sen. Arlen Specter
Focus on the Family ups effort to block Specter
Specter Claimed O'Connor Is Pro-life! (She's NOT)
Bork Hearings Resurface as Impediment to Specter (Specter concerned chairmanship is slipping away!)
Take Action! Protect Our Courts and Moderate Republican Voices (Barf Alert)
Race-Card Arlen. For Specter, politics trumps the Constitution on race.
An ominous Specter: Part III (MUST Read!)
"Relax, Dems, It Won't Be Horrible" (Margaret Carlson: Roe will survive, thanks GOP and Specter)
STOPPING SPECTER; Stephen Moore says giving Arlen the chairmanship would hurt conservatives
Specter: Moderates in GOP must speak
Priority 1: Remove Specter from the Judiciary (Day 9)
Can We Trust Senator Arlen Specter To Treat Bush Nominees Fairly?
Stop Arlen Specter from Blocking Conservative Pro-gun Judges
SPECTER supported subjecting our troops to trials by the International Criminal Court (ICC)!
Ann Coulter Flashback On Specter: Donkey Trapped In Elephant's Body
Human Events:Specter 1995 Letter Slammed Anti-Abortion Policies; Pro-Life Activists 'Extremists'
An ominous Specter: Part II (Thomas Sowell)
Specter promised to block Bush judges: Made vows to Pennsylvania papers before election
Specter In Hot Water Again Over Anti-Christian Fundraising Letter
Priority 1: Remove Specter from the Judiciary (Day 8)
Specter Stands Alone: No GOPer on Jud Cmte Willing to Declare Support for Specter--Not Even Santorum
Bork Blasts Specter in Radio Duel
ABC's The Note: Anti-Specter Calls Coming In At 2-3 A Minute
NotSpecter.com: Not One Senate Judiciary Committee Members Endorsing Specter
Bush Lost Pennsylvania Over Specter Endorsement
The Far Right draws a bead (Specter Alert)
An Ominous Specter (Specter and Bork--a new Specter low)
NEW HOPE: Keep The Specter Phone Calls Coming!
First Hand Account of Specter's Two-Facedness (He Trashes Reagan Too)
Lift The Specter From Pennsylvania (Must READ!)
Specter: "I not only voted against Bork, I led the charge against him
SPECTER LITMUS TEST BARS CATHOLICS AND EVANGELICALS FROM COURT APPOINTMENTS
If I want your opinion, I'll dictate it to you!
Thanks "Uncle Bill".
post #34
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, I didn't call them "radical fundamentlist evangelical Christians".. Maybe I goofed and didn't make myself clear--- I was referring to what the media and the dems think got Bush elected.
Just the other day, Hilary told a Pentacostal newspaper that she is an evangelical Christian conservative, and a few nights earlier, she gave a speech at Tufts Univ. quoting scripture and talking about Jesus.
The ONLY reason she is doing that, is to "PROVE" that she is just as devout as the Republicans are being made out to be.
Please don't come down on me because of what others portray Bush's backers to be. Don't kill the messenger.
Grow up Ed. Join the ranks of conservative adults. Recess is over, no more milk and cookies and afternoon nap time.
Looks like we can add Pat Toomey to Tom Tancredo, Tom McClintock and Randy Graf as good men whose followers are clinically nutzoid.
Sorry, I thought you coined the term.
We don't need name-calling at FR. Sounds like you are the one that isn't mature.
Maybe you didn't GET your milk and cookies, and you decided to take it out on Ed (and by extension, the rest of us on this thread).
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